Meanings
- obsoleteObsolete form of nobody.
[T]he conflagration was ſo ſuddain that no body had time to ſave himſelf but in that place where he was then; […]
1667, Rege Sincera [pseudonym], Observations Both Historical and Moral upon the Burning of London, September 1666. […], London: […] Thomas Ratcliffe, and are to be sold by Robert Pawlet […], page 205 more examples
The other replied, That for ought they could ſee, the men were quiet, and ſober, and intended no body any harm; […]
1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 126’Tis very remarkable, that if one of the Cenſors died, no body was ſubſtituted in his room ’till the next Luſtrum, and his Partner was oblig’d to quit his Office; becauſe the Death of a Cenſor happen’d juſt before the ſacking of Rome by the Gauls, and was ever after accounted highly ominous and unfortunate.
1696, Basil Kennett, “Of the Censors”, in Romæ Antiquæ Notitia: Or, The Antiquities of Rome. […], London: […] A. Swall and T. Child, […], →OCLC, part II, book III (Of the Civil Government of the Romans), page 111VVhat makes you ſo ſhy of late, my good Friend? There's no Body loves you better than I, nor has taken more Pains in your Affairs: […]
1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “An Account of the Conference between Mrs. Bull and Don Diego Dismallo”, in John Bull in His Senses: Being the Second Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], Edinburgh: […] James Watson, […], →OCLC, page 25It vvas his younger Siſters Chamber, that I vvas in, and as there vvas no Body in the Houſe, but the Maids belovv Stairs, he vvas it may be the ruder: […]
1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 21His Mercury having made his obſervations, reported, that there was no body in the coach but Mrs. Hornbeck and an elderly woman, who had all the air of a duenna, and that the ſervant was not the ſame footman who had attended them in France.
1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “Peregrine meets with Mrs. Hornbeck, and is consoled for his loss. […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume II, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 199 - Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see no, body.
There is no stamen in his wisdom. It is all head and no body—like the pictures of the goddess Laverna—or at least all head and shoulders, like a codfish.
1841 March, Edgar A[llan] Poe, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, in George R[ex] Graham, Rufus W[ilmot] Griswold, editors, Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine. […], volume XVIII, number 4, Philadelphia, Pa.: George R. Graham, published April 1841, →OCLC, page 179, column 12 more examples
He is, after all, having no body left to speak of and confined indoors, now all brain, a manipulator, an outsmarter. His paralysis requires Bernard’s virility; […]
2003, Jack Shadoian, “Toward the 21st Century: Frenzies and Despairs”, in Dreams & Dead Ends: The American Gangster Film, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 301Hud had been sheriff at the time of Angela’s disappearance. At first, it was believed that the baby had been kidnapped. But no ransom demand was ever made and no body was ever found.
2003, B.J. Daniels [pseudonym; Barbara Johnson Heinlein], Mountain Sheriff (Harlequin Intrigue, 744; Cascades Concealed, 1), Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN, page 49
Cite this entry
no body. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20body
“no body.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20body. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “no body,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20body.
Source: no body on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.